Getting Into the Swing of the New Year

Beth Terry headshot Image Ahh, another new year. Another chance for renewal. Another milestone. What are you doing to make 2003 better than 2002? Made your resolutions yet? If New Year’s Resolutions don’t work, how about making New Month’s Resolutions? Take it slowly and think about each month as it comes up. Here is one way you can improve your life this year: Re-engineer Yourself: The greatest re-engineer on the planet is Madonna. Every time she needed to re-invent herself, she did. As a result, several generations claim her as their own. She hasn’t been afraid to try it all, and, while I wouldn’t have chosen some of her roads, I respect the business woman and the warrior in her that took those risks. And I like the most recent Madonna ?- the one who discovered how softening it is to have children in your life. She isn’t afraid to be herself — how about you? Every machine you own, every vehicle, or software program needs to be updated from time to time. When is the last time you updated your own software? Have you looked at your values, beliefs or your movie lately? Are you hopelessly out of date? I’m not saying you should throw out everything you believe in, just re-view it and then re-choose it. Toss some of those notions that don’t support you or anyone else in your life anymore. Pay attention to the trash that you carry around with you: the old resentments, the childhood fears and insecurities. Do a ritual: write them all down, forgive yourself and others. Then take it out to the hibachi and set your list on fire to release it. That is your first step. Then decide what your gift is, what your special talent is and get going. There are incredible resources available in this information-loaded society. You can learn how to herd gnus on the Internet — so I’m sure you can find what you are looking for. Re-engineering not only serves you by keeping you from becoming obsolete, it serves everyone when you can offer a more expanded and updated version of your special talents. Remember, the world has enough wackos and crazy people. We need healthy people. We need you to be healthy. So work on yourself. You’ll be glad you did. ”Excerpted and paraphrased from Beth Terry’s book, “101 Ways to Make Your Life Easier.”? 2002. Used with permission. Contact Beth through her Web site at:” http://www.bethterry.com ”or via email at” mailto:beth@bethterry.com

Hawaii Reporter is an award-winning, independent Hawaii-based news and opinion journal founded in 2001 and launched in February 2002. The journal's staff have won a number of top awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, including the top investigative news reporting awards, business reporting awards, government reporting awards, and online news reporting awards.